Sri Lanka grows cut foliage for florists and unrooted cuttings for commercial nurseries, mainly for Europe, Japan and the Middle East. Common lines are cordyline, dracaena, ferns and ornamental leaves.

Plants have extra steps. Each shipment needs a phytosanitary certificate from Sri Lanka’s plant quarantine service, and the importing country has its own plant health rules. It ships by air, so we confirm flights with the quote. We do not list orchids or other species controlled under CITES.

What to include in your request

• Species and varieties
• Stem length or cutting size
• Weekly or one-off quantity
• Destination airport

Cuttings for nurseries

For dracaena and cordyline canes and cuttings sold to nurseries for rooting, see Dracaena and Cordyline cuttings and canes. For laboratory-grown young plants, see tissue-culture plantlets.

Importing into your country

Every shipment travels with a phytosanitary certificate from Sri Lanka’s National Plant Quarantine Service. What else you need depends on where the plants are going. Send us your species list and destination and we check the rules before we quote.

• European Union: all plants for planting need a phytosanitary certificate, including small lots and parcels. Some genera are on the EU high-risk plants list and cannot be imported until they are assessed, so we check each species first. Any growing medium must be new or treated and declared on the certificate, and professional importers register with their national plant-health authority.
• United Kingdom: plants for planting need a phytosanitary certificate, pre-notification on IPAFFS and inspection at a border control post, where fees apply.
• United States: the importer needs an APHIS import permit (form PPQ 587, free, applied for online; allow 30 to 60 days). Plants arrive bare-root, without soil, and enter through a port with a USDA plant inspection station.
• United Arab Emirates and the Gulf: the importer usually needs an import permit from the national ministry before the plants are shipped (in the UAE, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment).
• Japan, Canada and other markets: a phytosanitary certificate is required, and some plants also need an import permit or inspection on arrival. We confirm before quoting.
• Australia and New Zealand: very strict. Most live plants need an import permit and post-entry quarantine, so we quote these case by case.

How to get a price: tell us the quantity, your specification and your destination port. We quote FOB Colombo, CFR or CIF, with lead time and minimum order, and arrange samples before an order.

Handling and shelf life

Foliage and cuttings are perishable. They are graded, bunched and packed in cartons to limit moisture loss in transit. Many buyers ask for a standing weekly order so packing lines up with a fixed flight.

Check your import permit needs before the first order. Some countries require one for plant material.

Samples and lead time

Samples are available before an order. Price, minimum order and lead time are confirmed with the quotation.

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